OpenSense 0.3.5

More laptops get the features their own firmware has, and OpenSense now reads them from the firmware and a built-in model list instead of what NitroSense left in the registry.

Laptops

• Nitro V 16: the keyboard light each model really has (RGB, brightness only, or none), operating modes only where the BIOS has them, and no CoolBoost, which does nothing on these BIOSes.
• Nitro Lite 16 (NL16-71G): operating modes. Its fans follow the mode, so the Fans page, the Dashboard's cooling card and the tray's fan menu are hidden there.
• 2025 Predators: the BIOS's own settings on the System page, behind two switches in Settings. Dangerous ones need the second switch and a confirmation.
• Fn lock on the System page, where the BIOS has it.
• GPU switch: a third setting, Automatic, where the BIOS offers it.
• Nitro 5 AN515-45: the five keyboard effects its controller has.

Fixes

• AMD Ryzen: a CPU temperature of 207 °C, which some laptops read for a moment, no longer sends the fans to full speed (#3). The reading is discarded and OpenSense falls back to the firmware's.
• Keyboard backlight auto-off is found on laptops whose Fn keys are set to media keys in the BIOS.
• CoolBoost and Dust Defender are no longer offered where that firmware function sets the operating mode instead.
• If one part fails to start (a light, a sensor), the rest still runs, and the service recovers after a failure.
• A page that fails to open shows a bar with Retry instead of staying empty. Fan curve labels no longer overlap.

App

• The first time the window is closed and OpenSense keeps running in the notification area, a notification says so.
• Portable copy: Start with Windows uses a sign-in task, so it no longer asks for administrator rights at every sign-in.

Temporary diagnostics

These are here to investigate reports and will be removed in a later version. Settings > Troubleshooting > Copy diagnostics includes them.

• How much CPU OpenSense uses, in the app and the service, and while the window is hidden; and how long each part of the service's once-a-second work takes.
• AMD Ryzen: each discarded CPU temperature reading, also written to the service log (#3).

OpenSense 0.3.1

• Quit no longer ends in a crash: OpenSense now closes normally. Nothing was lost before (the fans and settings were already handed back), but Windows saw a crash every time.
• A portable update that fails part-way puts back every file it replaced: before, one file that couldn't be restored stopped the rest.

OpenSense 0.3.0

Everything PredatorSense 5.1 drives through the firmware, OpenSense now drives too, on the laptops that report it. Lighting and Anti-throttle were redone to match what the hardware really does.

Fans and performance

• Anti-throttle goes by each chip's own limit, read from the chip: no added speed until the last few degrees, full speed by the point where the chip would slow itself down. On the AN515-57 that is 88 → 94 °C for the CPU (where Intel's Dynamic Tuning starts cutting its power) and 81 → 87 °C for the GPU. Custom's Default preset follows the same curves.
• Fan boosts go out in the firmware's 10 % steps (it drops anything in between), and the boost slider and curve editor move in tens.
• GPU overclock for each operating mode on NVIDIA GPUs, within the driver's limits, reset when OpenSense stops. On 2024 and later Predators, Acer's own overclock for each mode is added on top.
• The Mode key switches operating modes (round all of them, or Turbo on and off) and shows a notification.
• On battery, the operating mode is chosen separately; a low battery or a weak USB-C adapter allows only Quiet and Balanced.
• Fan curve (Standard, Faster, Fastest) on the models NitroSense sets it on, Dust Defender from the Fans page, a third fan driven and system fans shown.
• Switching operating modes no longer makes the BIOS's power limits drift. On 2024 and later Predators, modes go through the embedded controller's HID interface, as Acer's software does.

Lighting

• The preview plays the keyboard's effects the way its controller does: the same frames, timing and colours, and 30 ms behind, as the keyboard is. The zone buttons change with it.
• New effects Meteor and Twinkling, and effect descriptions written for the keyboard.
• New lights: light bars, the Infinity Mirror and the lid logo; the 2024 and later Predators' HID lighting; per-key USB keyboards (Chicony, Sunrex) with a colour for each key; MagForce keys; Darfon lights. USB lights are picked up when they are plugged in.
• Wave and Shifting had Left and Right swapped; they now match NitroSense, so a saved direction may turn around once. Wave draws the firmware's rainbow and no longer takes a colour.

Battery, power and startup

• Charge limit at 80 %, battery calibration, USB charging while the laptop is off (down to 10, 20 or 30 %), and battery health on the System page.
• Boot animation and sound on or off, and your own boot logo (GIF or JPEG) where the BIOS allows it.

Other

• Important notices show as Windows notifications.
• Whether the GPU is on comes from Windows, so its temperature no longer stays "asleep" after a resume. AMD and other GPUs get their temperature from their driver.
• The Keyboard & display page is now System.
• A guide to copying a laptop's firmware (in the README's 13 languages) and fuller diagnostics, for owners of models whose features are missing or wrong.

Upgrading

• Settings from 0.2.0 carry over. The app and the service must be updated together (the installer does this).
• Going back to 0.2.0 can reset your settings.

OpenSense 0.2.0

Fans

OpenSense now drives the fans the way Acer's firmware actually works.

• Anti-throttle (new, on by default): in Auto, OpenSense adds speed as the chips heat up, half way to full speed at 90 °C and full speed at 100 °C, so the processor stops throttling where Acer's Auto would hold the fans back. It is a single switch on the Fans page.
• Custom now sets, for each fan, either a fixed amount of added speed or a curve. The separate Curve mode is gone; the modes are Auto, Max and Custom.
• CoolBoost has a switch on the Fans page too, in Auto and Custom.
• Curves follow each fan's own chip: the CPU fan the CPU temperature, the GPU fan the GPU temperature (no added speed while the GPU sleeps). They update every 3 seconds on the average temperature: the fans speed up at once and slow down only when the next reading confirms the drop, so spikes and wobbles don't make them hunt.
• One preset, Default, the Anti-throttle curve (it was called Silent). Balanced, Performance and "use this curve for the other fans too" are gone.
• Fan readings show the real speed in rpm and what OpenSense adds ("Auto + 40 %"). The duty figure shown before was only the firmware repeating the last value it was sent.
• Curve editor: the "Now" label rides on the curve at its point, and a selected point is deselected when you click anywhere else.
• Removed, because the firmware makes them unnecessary: the emergency temperature (Anti-throttle reaches full speed at 100 °C, and added speed can never make a fan slower than Acer's own), the minimum fan speed, the slow-down delay, and the choice of temperature per curve.

Lighting

• Colour swatches and zone colours behave like WinUI's coloured buttons on hover and press, keep their colour, and no longer stay dimmed after the pointer leaves.
• "All zones" has the "+" button for any colour too.
• The zone cards fill the whole width on wide windows instead of leaving an empty column.
• The colour picker shows the RGB/HSV number fields.

Settings and the rest of the app

• Open with a shortcut (new, under "Open with the NitroSense key"): any key or key combination you choose opens OpenSense from anywhere, even while it is in the notification area.
• Laptop details: the laptop card in Settings opens to show its SN (serial number) and SNID, as on the label and in Acer Care Center, ready to select and copy.
• Update checks started with "Check now" answer in the Settings card, which opens downward to offer the update; the daily check still shows the banner at the top.
• Removed settings: the update interval (sensors are read every second, curves act every 3 seconds) and "Start minimized" (OpenSense still starts in the notification area when it starts with Windows).
• Notification area menu: "Open OpenSense" is now just "Open", and the CoolBoost item is gone (it is on the Dashboard and the Fans page).
• Fewer interruptions: no more "Capabilities updated" or "Reconnected" notices (the "Lost connection" one clears itself once the service is back), and copying diagnostics says "Copied" on the button.
• OpenSense uses the Windows accent colour instead of its own red, including on the fans and curves.
• New icons: a shield for Anti-throttle, an LED light for Lighting, and in Settings a keyboard with a sparkle for the NitroSense key, a keyboard shortcut for "Open with a shortcut" and a closing pane for "Keep running".
• Keyboard & display no longer slides off the right edge on wide windows.
• The Dashboard's "Custom speeds and curves" link is gone; the Fans page is in the sidebar, and the fan tiles show "rpm" next to the speed.
• Every language: new texts for all of the above, slightly changed punctuation.

OpenSense 0.1.1

What's new

• OpenSense in your language. The app and the installer are translated into 36 languages and follow the Windows display language. You can also pick one in Settings → Appearance → Language. Arabic, Hebrew and Persian lay the window out from right to left.
• Title bar. Back to the standard Windows height and icon size, with the app name at the same size as the navigation.
• README in 12 more languages, with a language bar at the top.

No native speaker has checked the translations yet. If something reads wrong in your language, please open an issue or send a fix; Translations says where the text lives.

Updating

OpenSense 0.1.0 offers this update within a day, or right away with Settings → Updates → Check now. You can also run the setup below. It updates the app and its background service together, which this version needs: the new app doesn't work with the 0.1.0 service.

Full Changelog: v0.1.0...v0.1.1

OpenSense 0.1.0

Full Changelog: https://github.com/archivesteak/opensense/commits/v0.1.0